MASS. - The Massachusetts State Senate unanimously approved a bill to ensure life saving medical attention for law enforcement K-9's.
For State Senator Steven Xiarhos (5th-Barnstable), getting this bill passed is personal.
The bill known as Nero's Law was drafted following the line of duty death of Yarmouth Police K-9 Sergeant Sean Gannon back in 2018, where his K-9 partner, Nero, was also severely injured.
"When (Nero) walked out of that hospital seven days later, I was standing there and he kept looking for (Gannon), " Xiarhos said.
Nero's Law ensures K-9s receive life-saving medical attention and transport if injured in the line of duty. Senator Xiarhos was Deputy Chief of the Yarmouth Police Department at the time. He says he left his career in law enforcement after 40 years and ran for office because of that day.
"Standing there seeing Nero being carried out of the house, trying to breathe and covered in blood and no one helping him, I'll never forget that," Xiarhos said. "It's personal to the 7,000 police officers that serve the state and their 250 dogs. What this does is gives the police dog a chance to live."
Xiarhos says it was in this moment he knew he had to leave his career in law enforcement after 40 years to run for office. He says one of his worst nightmares was this would happen again before the law was passed, and it did this past summer when K-9 Kit from Braintree was shot and killed.
Current Massachusetts law prohibits emergency medical personnel from treating and transporting animals. The state's House of Representatives will vote on the bill this week before it reaches Governor Charlie Bakers desk, but Xiarhos is staying positive.
"My dream is, I see Nero, I see Denise and Patrick, Sean's mother and father, and I see Dara, Sean's wife and Governor Baker at the State House and they're all together," Xiarhos said. "I see that somehow. Something like that, signing this bill into law."